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Palmer Conner Collection of Color Slides of Los Angeles: Finding
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photCL 486
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Title: Palmer Conner Collection of Color Slides of Los Angeles
Dates (inclusive): 1950-1970
Collection Number: photCL 486
Creator:
Conner, Palmer
Extent:
705 photographs in 4 slides boxes within 1 box : color transparencies (35 mm Kodachrome slides)
Repository:
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
Photo Archives
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2191
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Abstract: This collection consists of 705 Kodachrome slides taken by Palmer Conner (1900-1975) depicting downtown Los Angeles between
1954 and 1972. The bulk of the images in this
collection were taken during the years of the Bunker Hill Redevelopment Project that began in 1955 and reflect the demolition
of Bunker Hill and the reconstruction of the Civic Center area. As such,
the images provide an important visual record of the rapidly changing urban core of Los Angeles over a period of nearly two
decades. Images chiefly consist of views of commercial and residential
building exteriors taken from the street, including images of both new construction and older buildings in the process of
being demolished.
Language: English.
Note:
Finding aid last updated on February 6, 2015.
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader
Services.
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material,
nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and
obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
[Identification of item], Palmer Conner Collection of Color Slides of Los Angeles, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Gift of Gina Dunseth, 2004.
Biographical Note on Palmer Conner
Edmund Palmer Conner (1900-1975) was born in Norfolk, Virginia on January 1, 1900. He was one of three children of Charles
S. Conner, a lawyer,
and Theodosia Brown Conner. The family migrated west in 1901 and settled in San Diego, California, where Conner attended elementary
school,
later moving to Pasadena where he attended Pasadena High School.
Palmer Conner was employed by the Title Insurance and Trust Company of Los Angeles from 1922 until 1937, working in a variety
of roles as
Chief Title Searcher, Plant Manager, and Assistant Secretary. During that time, he developed several innovative procedures
for title searching,
including the first key punch mechanical method for searching real estate titles.
In 1937, Conner established the Land Escrow and Safe Deposit Company in Alhambra but left the company to open Land Title Insurance
Company where
he served as president until 1948. He founded Western Mutual Escrow Corporation in 1949 at the same Alhambra location. In
1953, Palmer Conner
turned the business over to his son, Charles P. Conner, and it became the largest escrow company in California. Conner also
formed Westlands
Investments Incorporated in 1949, a land development firm responsible for many commercial and residential developments in
Los Angeles, the
Antelope Valley, Orange County and the San Diego area.
In 1928, Conner researched and wrote a series of articles for the
Los Angeles Times entitled “Romance of the Ranchos,” which told
the stories of Southern California's Mexican ranchos. The Title Insurance & Trust Company published the series of articles
in booklet form
in 1929.
Historical Note on Bunker Hill
The Bunker Hill neighborhood of downtown Los Angeles, bounded by Temple, Figueroa, 6th, and Hill Streets, was once an opulent
subdivision created exclusively for Los Angeles's upper class in the
late 19th century. The neighborhood began to decline after World War I as its population surged and wealthy residents headed
for more suburban
enclaves. Mansions were subdivided and occupied by renters, and eventually blight set in. In the 1950s, the city of Los Angeles
began to redevelop
the Bunker Hill area through the Bunker Hill Redevelopment Project, which not only included the demolition of Bunker Hill
and its Victorian
mansions, but the reconstruction of the Civic Center area.
The Palmer Conner Collection of Color Slides of Los Angeles consists of 35mm Kodachrome slides taken between 1954 and 1972.
This collection of photographs taken by
amateur photographer Palmer Conner documents by street the physical and social changes of Bunker Hill during the earliest
stages of redevelopment. The collection is particularly strong
in its depiction of the Bunker Hill neighborhood of downtown Los Angeles during redevelopment in the 1950s. Images chiefly
consist of views of commercial and residential
building exteriors taken from the street, including images of both new construction and older buildings in the process of
being demolished.
Note: Titles in the container list have been transcribed from the slide mounts.
Related materials in the Huntington Library
- Pat Adler Photograph Collection of the Architecture of Southern California (photCL 181)
- Theodore Hall Collection of Negatives and Photographs of downtown Los Angeles and Southern California (photCL 384)
- South Bunker Hill Association. Survey map of south Bunker Hill area of Los Angeles (Frederick Nelson Scrapbook vol. 34, p. 41)
The slides are arranged in one box in Palmer Conner's original order. Each slide has a unique number. There is no clear
organizational schema, though photographs are often grouped together by street.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
Huntington Library's Online Catalog.
Angels Flight (Railway) -- Photographs.
Bunker Hill (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Photographs.
Los Angeles (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Architecture, Victorian -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Automobiles -- Photographs.
Bank buildings -- Photographs.
Billboards -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Buildings -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Cityscapes -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Construction and demolition debris -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Electric railroads -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Historic buildings -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Hotels -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Housing -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Parking lots -- Photographs.
Skyscrapers -- Photographs.
Streetscapes (Urban design) -- Photographs.
Urban renewal -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Wrecking -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Photographs.
Slides -- Color -- 1950-1970.